"The Master" was booked to face prolific submission victim Shannon Ritch at a Rage in the Cage event, and was barred from fighting because he showed up intoxicated. As Ritch explained on the UG:

Its True...I showed up to fight, made weight- and waited for Drew.Drew finally showed up, saw him with the DR. Pre fight physcial and YEP- he was a little waisted. Police were out front they gave Drew a breath- a- lizer- I believe I heard them say he blew a .18 (2X the legal limit.)

the guy was 30-5 at one point, its more sad than anything to me. he has a history of being hot-headed and having trouble with promoters, but to show up to a phyical drunk shows that hes more or less completely screwed up right now and needs some help before something worse happens to him than not getting to fight.

scobac

6/29/09 5:31:06PM

in the last year ive been in rehab twice, a 3/4 house once and prision twice (for alcohol related crimes). The last time I tried training wast in january and I managed to screw that up. I understand why most find what drew did funny, but I know first hand that substance abuse can take everything that you have in an instant and the reallity is it's not funny. I feel for him and hope he gets help and is able to overcome this, God knows i havnt.

MMA-San

6/29/09 6:23:37PM

Drew is my friend. I train with him. We are go through rough times. Times whee our lives are not going the way we want. We go through that stage where we are subpar at our jobs and should prolly take time off...only we can't aford to do so. The difference between all of us and Drew is that because of Drew job it gets publicized...cut him some slack...he'll be back one day.

scobac

6/29/09 6:58:24PM

I dont want anyone to be hesitant to post cause of what I posted, anybody can feel the way the want about it, I speak first hand that usually the only people sympathetic about this stuff is fellow users and admediate(spelling??) family.

Jackelope

6/29/09 8:42:13PM

Posted by emfleek

We all have struggles. It's our own personal choices on how to deal with those struggles. He knew exactly what he was doing and still did it.

I agree, and I don't give him a pass, but at the same time I won't judge. How can a guy like Evan Tanner who had such a good heart and was such a good person make some of the poor choices he made?

I served with a lot of guys in the Army who were absolutely amazing soldiers that committed incredibly selfless acts that most people wouldn't even once in their entire lives think about doing. When we got back from Iraq, some of them fell down the path of substance abuse and by all outsider's accounts would be considered dirtbags. One of them even crashed his car and killed himself while high on massive amounts of cocaine. Those outsiders have no idea what those men were capable of and did, though. Ira Hayes, the native american soldier who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima is a perfect example of a benevolent and selfless human being who fell down a "pathetic" path.

As I said- not personally knowing the guy and his struggles I hesitate to call him pathetic or to judge something I know nothing about. Wanting to be a more positive person in this world, I choose the route of forgiveness and empathy without sacrificing my own better judgment. I'm not personally involved with Drew nor do the things he does affect my life personally, so why judge? I won't compare his struggles to my own, either, because we each experience things differently, and we're each equipped in different ways to handle those struggles.

This post isn't made to make you feel like a POS, either... I just want to be clear about why I feel the way I do, and maybe in some small way it will help you view the situation from a different (and hopefully more empathic) angle.

emfleek

6/29/09 8:52:57PM

I totally understand where you're coming from, Jackelope. We're all entitled to our opinions. In my case, though...I only think about forgiving a guy (or giving them a 2nd chance) *when* they decide enough is enough.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

MMA-San

6/30/09 2:25:06AM

Drew did have a baby, and did go financially bankrupt due to that stupid Ryan Ford BS. Drew was starting a family, and he had that Ryan Fords fight line dup for big cash, he also had that Jake Shields fight lined up for big cash. He was also working on a Hieron fight for Affliction for big cash. Then strikeforce gave him a call and he had that fight line dup for big cash...then that dang promoter BSed him. His Strikeforce bout got cancelled because he was suppose to fight Ryan Ford healthy...then that fight got cancelled...meaning that the strikeforce bout being cancelled served no pont. He got screwd.

Drew made some investments (maybe prematurely, but the payoffs were garrenteed) he needed money bad, so he took a fight on short noticed...and what do you know, he got flashed KO after dominating the entire fight against Villas...due to this loss his Shields bout was no longer marketeble...and thatgot cancelled.

So basically what happened was. Drew had garrenteed money for the Jake Shields and Ryan Ford fights. Drew made investments that costed money. These two garrenteed pay offs were unjustly taken away from him. Now he's left with all these bills with no way to pay. His only job is fighting. So thats what he did, he fought unhealthy and eventually these losses took away his motivation, so then he just simply fought for any payday. He needs money, he needs to raise his family, he's in a tough spot. **** happened that shouldn't of happened.

He's trying to support his family. How many of you would go out there and continue to fight and put your established carreer on the line just to feed your daughter? Give him a break., he's just being a good dad.

What you should be doing is showing him support. Its hard to get motivated again when your spirit breaks, and your life crumbles...but it can be acheived with help.

Jackelope

6/30/09 2:51:47AM

That sheds a lot of light on the situation- thanks for that. Like I've been saying, there's always more than meets the eye to these substance abuse stories. So I'm most always going to reserve judgment.

I just hope Drew gets back to his winning ways and that he doesn't let this stuff drag him too far down.

telnights

6/30/09 3:19:23AM

Fickett has gone way down hill the past year. I read few a interviews he has done in the past year and he just sounds like someone that's pissed off at the world. So I cant say I'm shocked by this at all. Its really sad to because the guy was very talented at one time.

MMA-San

6/30/09 4:17:01AM

Your avatar doesn't have the same effect as it did when it said "Dennis Hallman?"

telnights

6/30/09 1:52:11PM

Posted by MMA-San

Your avatar doesn't have the same effect as it did when it said "Dennis Hallman?"

LOl yeah but as a MOD we have to have it in our avatar sig somewhere and Dennis Hallman? MOD doesn't really work